Safety tread-step.



PATENTED 00124, 1905.

C. J. MARIUS SAFETY TREAD STEP.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 10, 1904 munsw 5 Guam :0. ucw-umosmwsus wnsmotou. u c.

UNITED STATES PATENT orrion.

OASTERAN J. MARIUS, OF WEST HOBOKEN, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO EMPIRE SAFETY TREAD COMPANY, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, A COR- --PORATION OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

SAFETY TREAD-STEP.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 24, 1905.

Application filed December 10, 1904. Serial No. 236,357.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GASTERAN J. MARIUS, a citizen of the United States, residing at West Hoboken, in the county of Hudson and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Safety Tread-Steps; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to safety tread-steps for street-cars, elevated-railway stairs, &c., Where there is excessive wear and liability of slipping.

It has for its object to provide a tread-step constructed of a metal base provided with suitable channels or pockets filled with hard-crystal stone grits held in place by artificial-stone cement in such a manner as to form a nonyielding irregular grit tread-surface, as will be hereinafter explained.

Fig. 2 represents an end view showing the manner in which the cement grit is held in place by the dovetail channel and the dovetailholes through the bottom of the channel. Fig.

3 represents a part of a longitudinal section through the center of one of the channels of Fig. 1. F ig. & represents a top view of the wire binder which rests in the bottom of the I channel into which the grit cement is placed,

and Fig. 5 represents an end View of the same.

Referring to Figs. 1, 2, and 3, the bed-plate a is usually rolled with the sides a of the channels a standing in a vertical position, and before the metal is cool the foundationplate is run through a roller which takes effect within the channel a and spreads the two sides, forming the dovetail channel a After this is done the countersunk holes 0 are bored from the lower side, thus forming an anchorage for the cement in addition to the dovetailed sides above described.

In order to make the tread sufiiciently hard to hold stone grits, preferably carborundurn, to resist wear, it is necessary to have a very hard cement, such as those used in making artificial stone, which of course makes the cement very liable to crack and break during the process of contraction and expansion of the bed-plate a in the extreme temperatures. In order to overcome this danger, I have provided the binder d, which consists of a strip of wire-netting (usually cut on the bias) which is sufliciently'open to allow the cement to pass through its mesh. The sides of the binder are bent down to form a flange the requisite angle and size to fit within the bottom of the dovetail channel a, as shown at cl, Figs. 2 and 5. is to spring outward and hold the binder in the bottom of the channel and also to raise the body of the binder above the bottom of the channel far enough to permit the cement when forced in the channel a to pass through the open mesh of the binder and form a solid surface below the binder and in the bottom of the channel to which it adheres and cements itself. The wire-netting strips being thus secured within the cement strips forms a binder to prevent it from breaking or being displaced.

In short steps, such as those used on trolley- The object of these flanges cars, and carriage-steps, where the contraction and expansion is very slight, the wire binder may be omitted, the dovetail in the grooves and holes to which the cement adheres being suflicient to hold the grits in place.

After the carborundum grits and the ocment are mixed together in the suitable proportions 1 then place the wire binder cl Within the channel of, then fill the channel with the mixture, and press it in place. This forces the cement through the mesh of the binder and through the dovetail holes 0, (until it stops at the mixing-plate, upon which the bed-plate a rests.) It is then left to dry, 0] uring which process the cement seemingly grows fast to the channel on all sides, thus creating a step which is almost indestructible.

While carborundum grits are-preferably employed, any other hard grits may be used,

and the invention is therefore not limited to carborundum or stone grits.

To obtain the best results, the carborundum or other hard grits may be mixed with any kind of cement capable of use in making artificial stone and which will harden quickly and bind the grits together. Therefore, Portland, Keene, or any other cement may be employed, or in lieu of either a special cement formed of alum, one part; water, twelve parts, and plaster-of-paris in the necessary quantity for body may be employed. In the latter case the composition is placed in amold, from which it is removed after three or four hours, when it is dried and recalcined or rebaked and ground or powdered, hydrated again, and combined with a sufiicient quantity of black pigment to give proper color.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is as follows:

1. A tread-step consisting of a metal base, provided with suitable channels or pockets filled with hard-crystal stone grits held within the said channels or pockets by an artificialstone cement, in such a manner as to form a non-yielding irregular grit tread-surface, substantially as specified.

2. A tread-step consisting of a metal base provided with suitable dovetail channels or pockets filled with hard-crystal stone grits,

held within the said channels or pocket-s by a suitable cement in such a manner as to form a non-yielding irregular grit tread-surface, substantially as described.

3. A non-slipping tread-step consisting of a bed-plate provided with upwardly-projecting webs forming dovetail grooves or pockets, dovetail holes through the bottom of the said grooves or pockets, hard-crystal stone grits held within the said grooves or pockets by a suitable cement which hardens and anchors itself within the said dovetail grooves or pockets and the said dovetail holes. the said grit forming a non-yielding irregular grit tread-surface, substantially as described.

4. A non-slipping tread-surface consisting of a bed-plate provided with upwardly-projecting ribs forming channels therein, a suitable binder within the bottom of the said channel, and carborundum or other stone grit cement, filling the said channel and adhering to the said binder within the said channel to prevent the said artificial stone from breaking, substantially as herein described.

5. A non-slipping tread-step consisting of a bed-plate provided with upwardly-projecting ribs bent over to form dovetail channels, suitable woven-wire binder within the said dovetail channel, and carborundum or other stone grit cement filling the said channel and adhering to the said binder within the channel, substantially as specified.

In testimony whereof I aifix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

' CASTERAN J. MARIUS.

Witnesses:

JOHN A. T. OARRONGHER, GEORGE W. THOMAS. 

